Craftsmen launched fine seaworthy vessels at the Head of Westport centuries ago, and that tradition continued Saturday afternoon.

Two teams of Westport students carried the boats they had labored over for months from shore to the water as a crowd of spectators cheered.

An eighth-grade team proudly lugged their blue and white-hulled 32-foot Cornish pilot gig Spirit of Westport. And a Westport Junior-Senior High School Team launched the black-hulled dory Mariners’ Endeavor. Both are traditional rowing boats.

Under the auspices and guidance of Westport-based Dharma Voyage, a community rowing organization led by Ben Booth, the teams worked in separate locations across state lines from one another.

The eighth graders built their boat in a back room at Titcomb Brothers Mfg.on Forge Road in Westport under the tutelage of Mr. Booth and Jon Aborn. Spirit of Westport is built of okoume (a plantation grown African hardwood) marine plywood, the pieces of which come in pre-cut kit form from Chesapeake Light Craft Co.

Meanwhile, the high school team (members of Dharma’s Youth Rowing Team) traveled to Warren, RI, to work with boatbuilder Don Betts at his shop.

The boats now join the growing Dharma fleet (which also includes the Cornish pilot gig Voyager) and will be used on the river for community rowing programs for all ages.